If you've ever looked in iTunes > Preferences > Devices you've probably seen what appear to be duplicate backups of your various iDevices labeled with a date. These are archives that iTunes automatically creates, typically when you updated to new software or otherwise made a change that caused your iPhone to start anew. There are times, however, when it might be handy to create one of these at a point in time of your choosing, and we can show you how.

It's time to save some of that hard-earned cash with our Daily Deals, featuring a handy list from Dealnews and our own hand-picked selections that include some sweet deals on iOS and OS X software (all prices are USD). Prices are subject to change. Please verify the cost of an app before making a purchase.

Deals from Dealnews

• Other World Computing: [Computer Accessories] OWC 2012 Featured Move 'em Out Sale: RAM, accessories, HDDs, more
• eBay: [iPhone Accessories] 60x Digital Microscope Lens w/ LED Light for iPhone 4/4S for $4 + free shipping
• ...

Accused of conspiring with publishers to fix e-book prices, Apple claimed in its opening court statement that the government is trying to “reverse engineer a conspiracy from a market effect.” The case is a “sinister inference,” said Apple attorney Orin Snyder, maintaining that the company did not conspire with any…

If your iPhone’s battery life seems to be going the way of the dodo, the Facebook app might be to blame.

Per Cult of Mac, the iOS developer behind Home Remind has published a blog post about the Facebook apps for iPhone, iPad and Facebook Messenger. He says that according to his testing, the Facebook apps consume way more CPU time than is strictly necessary. Excessive CPU time can lead to...

Fraser Speirs uses his experience in education to give some suggestions for iOS 7.

∞ Read this on The Loop

It’s not the greatest picture in the world, but it says something as to what iOS 7′s user interface might look like.

The mighty Apple Core, in collaboration with Sonny Dickson, has located a somewhat blurry photo of what might be the upcoming iOS 7 home screen:

While the photo...

This is a great list. The more I mix a song, the worse it seems to get because after a while you just keep tweaking until there is nothing left to the original magic of the song. That’s when I usually walk away for a few days and come back refreshed.

∞ Read this on The Loop

The Department of Justice's antitrust case against Apple over e-book pricing is "bizarre," said Apple lawyer Orin Snyder yesterday during the case's opening arguments. Snyder went on to call the allegations "sinister interference" based on nebulous evidence, and complain about pre-trial comments by Judge Denise Cote inferring that the DoJ was likely to win....  ...

You’ll soon be able to have your iPhone 5 screen replaced at assorted Apple Store locations for US$149, with or without AppleCare+.

Per MacRumors, changes to Apple’s repair policies first surfaced last month, where a town hall session revealed that Apple would begin in-house repairs of displays in June in an effort to save approximately US$1 billion per year.

The site heard from a tipster this morning that the new repair policy had been implemented and the changes have since been confirmed in a forum post from iPhone repair site...

A decent update goes a long way.

On Wednesday, Adobe released version 13.0.5 of its Photoshop CS6 image editing program. The new version, a 135.5 megabyte download (via MacUpdate), offers the following fixes and changes:
- When a transformed type layer’s point size is changed, the end result should be as if there was no transform (like CS5).

- When moving a type layer with a free transform active, the size of the font changes to non-integer values.

- Clicking a Pop-up window in a Flash extension panel does not work and/or cause Photoshop to crash.

- Info panel displays incorrect value for adjustment layers inside groups.

- Restore View>Print Size...

From 9to5Toys.com:

Today SanDisk has unveiled their newest line of Solid State Drives, the Extreme II, which features faster speeds and 19nm flash memory and proprietary high-performance tiered system architecture.  SanDisk promises that these new drives will offer quick game loads, enhanced gameplay and an improved user experience for anyone who works with big chunks of data.  Boasting sequential read/write speeds of 550MB/sec and 510MB/sec and up to 95,000 random...

In the world of iPhone battery cases, Mophie seems to have the majority of the mindshare and market with their line of Juice Packs. That may change in the near future, as accessory manufacturer Belkin has just announced the Grip Battery Case for iPhone 5 (US$99.99).

The Grip packs a lot of extra power -- a whopping 2,000 mAh of capacity -- into a colorful case that also protects your favorite iPhone. Colorful means four different designs -- purple lightning and fountain blue, civic blue and stone, whiteout and blacktop, and blacktop and gravel.

Rather than the two-part top/bottom case design used by Mophie, the Grip uses a slide-in battery shell with a Lightning adapter to provide the power, with a shock-resistant bumper to protect the shiny metal sides of your iPhone.

The Grip charges up with an included USB to micro-USB cable, as well as a headphone adapter to attach your earpods to the iPhone through the...

MetroPCS will soon start to allow customers to use the T-Mobile GSM network instead of the existing CDMA one, according to leaked internal documents. The carrier will be adding two new GSM devices to its catalog in the near future, following its successful merger with T-Mobile, and will start offering a Bring Your Own Phone (BYOP) service for GSM devices....  ...

Mass production of a fifth-generation iPad should start in July or August -- ahead of a launch in the same quarter -- but production of a second-gen iPad mini has been delayed a month to November, say DigiTimes sources. The reason for the delay is unknown, but it's speculated that Apple may be staggering the launch of the Mini so it has less of an impact on full-sized iPad sales. Alternately, suppliers may simply be unable to cope with starting Mini production in October....  ...

A graph created by the US Department of Justice to show how e-book prices rose following the introduction of Apple's iBookstore.

Department of Justice

NEW YORK, NY—In a Manhattan courtroom, Apple and the Department of Justice gave their opening statements in the e-book price-fixing case United States of America v. Apple Inc. The government presented a position based on interpretations of direct quotes from relevant documents where Apple allegedly discussed ways to raise e-book prices not only on its own platform, but across the industry. Apple defended itself by saying that it acted in no one’s business interests but its own, that its employees had been misquoted and their statements taken out of context, and the government is “trying to reverse engineer a conspiracy from market effect.”

The government has been pursuing a...

The coding world has been dominated by men despite the fact that gender isn't a factor in who makes a good programmer. App Camp For Girls is working to change that lopsided ratio by teaching girls good coding skills and giving them the confidence to jump into the app developer's world. They already have two camps planned for 2013, but need supporters to make sure they have the resources offer more camps for years to come. To that end, they launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise US$50,000 with some great perks for supporters at all levels. Every child deserves the chance to succeed, so its great to see App Camp For Girls helping girls that want to code get the chance to follow their dream.

Byword (US$9.99 Mac, $2,99 iOS) is a simple text editor of the full-screen, "distraction-free" ilk from Metaclassy. Version 2.0 is now available, with some very nice changes, including one-click blog publishing.

Byword 2.0 for Mac introduces publishing. This is a "premium feature" that requires a one-time purchase. The app is a free update, while publishing services are available as separate in-app purchase of US$4.99.

With Byword 2 for Mac, you can publish your writing directly to WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, Evernote or Scriptogram. This is such a great feature that's saved me a lot of time. I like to write long posts in Byword using Markdown. ...

Apple's e-book price fixing trial began yesterday in New York and the U.S. Justice Department wasted no time painting a picture purporting to show that Apple, along with 5 publishing houses, colluded to artificially raise the price of e-books.

In a series of 81 slides released on Monday, the Justice Department laid out its case as it attempts to prove that Apple and five publishing companies violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The five publishers at issue include the Penguin Group, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, the Hachette Book Group, and MacMillan. Notably, all five publishers have since settled, thereby leaving Apple the only company actually taking the case to trial.

Front and center in the DOJ's case are emails sent from Apple executive Eddy Cue to publishers in an attempt to get them to sign up for the agency model as it pertains to e-book pricing. The DOJ also alleges that Cue routinely told some publishers what other publishers had already agreed to,...

We told you a few days ago about ASUS launching a 31.5-inch 4k monitor, and predicted that today’s Macs would struggle to drive it. The Verge has now confirmed this, by briefly hooking it up to a 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.

Tangible lag was introduced when working in more demanding applications like Adobe’s Lightroom, while the mouse cursor also exhibited a troublingly low refresh rate …

//

As The Verge acknowledges, it’s not a very robust test as OS X won’t output directly at 4k resolution, but it does suggest that we will indeed need to wait for the...

Last night I was walking my dog and I went to check my iPhone and noticed I didn't have a 3G signal. Sadly, this was nothing new since I am on UK network 3. I chose the network because they have unlimited data sim-only plans, but I soon discovered it's hard to get a signal a lot of times -- especially when I'm indoors. Still, being on the heath last night and not having a data signal at all was odd -- even for 3. But this morning I found out what happened: most of their data network went down and most of it remains down at this time.

As Sky News reports, 3 has confirmed the data outage problems, which they are calling "intermittent." A 3 spokesperson said, "Some of our customers are unable to access the internet. We are working to restore their data services as soon as possible. We apologise to all those affected for any inconvenience." Currently...

E Ink, a manufacturer of monochrome displays, has announced it is creating a 1.73-inch e-paper screen for use with smartwatches. Offering 16 shades of greyscale, a resolution of 320x240, and low power requirements, Slashgear reports that the display will be surfacing in the Sonostar Smartwatch, due to be shown later this week at Computex....  ...

Data from Morgan Stanley (via Apple Insider) shows that Apple has more active accounts and makes more money per account than Amazon. Apple has half a billion active accounts, against Amazon’s 200m, and last year generated revenue of $329 per Apple ID, compared to Amazon’s $305 per account.

The account and revenue numbers don’t tell the whole story, of course … 

//

Apple’s margins on iTunes sales are wafer-thin, at just 2 percent on apps and 1 percent on music. But they do paint a pretty surprising picture, considering the range of products sold by Amazon against Apple’s very limited range of apps, media and cloud-based...

Given the recent release of the enhanced Intel Haswell line, Dell has updated much of its consumer-grade computing line with the new processor. Dell today announced revisions to its Alienware and XPS lines, boosting both with the power of the new processor family....  ...

A new report out of East Asia claims Apple will begin mass production of the fifth-generation iPad in July or August ahead of a third quarter launch, while the ramp-up for the next iPad mini has been pushed back to November.  ...

Digitimes shares what it believes to be Apple’s iPad roadmap for the rest of 2013. According to the site, a redesigned version of the full-sized iPad with a 9.7-inch display will go into production in July-August and begin shipping at some point in Q3 of this year. The report also shares that Apple will begin shipments with 5 million units during that quarter. As for what this new iPad model will include, the report repeats our previous claims of a thinner, lighter, iPad mini-like body with narrower bezels. Digitimes previously claimed that the new iPad could weigh in at under one pound (for comparison, the iPad mini weighs 0.68 pounds)…

//...

Warhammer Quest was originally announced way back in August last year, and now it's finally arrived on the iOS App Store, for a price of US$4.99. The game is indeed based on the old board game (set in the great and goofy British Warhammer universe), but it's also made by Rodeo Games, most famous for creating the popular Hunters series on iOS. Rodeo knows how to make turn-based strategy both interesting and easy to control on the iOS touchscreen, and that's exactly what they've done here, essentially translating their top-down, grid layout strategy title into the Warhammer universe.

In Warhammer Quest, you pilot a crew of various fantasy-based heroes (warrior, mage, archer...

Zynga has announced it will be laying off 18 percent of their mobile and social staff, around 520 people. The company cites stabilizing finances for the mass firing. According to Zynga's official announcement laid off employees will be receiving severance packages.

In their official statement, CEO Mark PIncus said:

None of us ever expected to face a day like today, especially when so much of our culture has been about growth. But I think we all know this is necessary to move forward. The scale that served us so well in building and delivering the leading social gaming service on the Web is now making it hard to successfully lead across mobile and multiplatform, which is where social games are going to be played.

According to CNN Money a Thomson Reuters report stated Zynga was expected to lose US$27.6 million dollars in the first quarter of...

Google has updated Chrome for iOS to version 27, bringing with it a number of new features aimed at Apple users looking for a Siri alternative. Like the recently updated desktop and Android versions, iOS users can verbally ask Chrome a question and get a verbal response. Chrome now talks back to you when it answers your questions. Most of the time. You can see an example video at the bottom of the page.

In my tests, the vocal response is great for basic inquiries for things you might need on the fly. I got verbal answers for questions like "Where is Fast & Furious 6 playing?" and "What is the population of Atlanta?" When I asked it to tell me the original lead singer of the punk band Black Flag it took me to a simple search results page and remained silent. Perhaps Chrome isn't a punk fan, but it probably has more to do with...

Unable to gain much traction against Apple's iPad so far, Microsoft is cutting the licensing fees for its mobile-targeted Windows RT operating system, hoping that if manufacturers are able to make less expensive devices, the platform could show signs of life.  ...

Whether by coincidence or foresight, Apple could hardly have picked a better day than April 30 to have sold its first bonds since 1996, raising $17 billion to be used towards stock buybacks and increased dividends. Apple has announced that it intends to return $100 billion to stockholders over the next few years, but opted to go into debt to do so rather than "repatriate" some $45 billion in foreign profits -- finding that historically low interest rates would cost the company dramatically less than paying the 35 percent corporate tax on the offshore earnings.... ...

D-Link today expanded its line of myDlink-enabled Cloud Cameras with the introduction of the Pan & Tilt Day/Night Network Camera (DCS-5020L); the Outdoor HD Wireless Day/Night Network Camera (DCS-2332L); the Day/Night Cloud Camera 1150 (DCS-933L), and the Cloud Camera 1050 (DCS-931L). Each model is designed for around-the-clock surveillance and monitoring....  ...

During Apple's opening statements at the Department of Justice's e-book price fixing trial on Monday, lawyer Orin Snyder called the government's suit "bizarre," the same terminology CEO Tim Cook used to describe the case during an interview last week.  ...

Ever since Plants vs. Zombies 2 was first announced, I've been crossing my fingers that we wouldn't have to wait long for an iOS release. The original game was hugely successful on Apple's touchscreen devices, but of course it was first seen on PC, and then eventually made its way out to every other platform on the face of the Earth. It turns out, however, that I shouldn't have worried about the sequel at all. Not only is Plants vs. Zombies 2 coming to iOS, but it's coming to iOS first and exclusively for a limited time.

You can read the whole press release below, but suffice it to say that when PvZ2 arrives on July 18, it'll be only on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and that's awesome. The game will also have some touchscreen-only features (that allow you to interact with the zombies directly, which sounds interesting), and EA is planning lots of extra content for the game going forward. The...

The supervisory Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) unveiled a new code of conduct for wireless providers, which (among other things) allows customers to cancel wireless contracts after two years, similar to US contracts, without cancellation penalties. Other notable changes include caps on roaming charges with a corresponding cessation of service, and the ability of the consumer to request a subsidized phone's unlock after three months as a customer in good standing.... ...

If you were lucky enough to score tickets to WWDC during the 3-minute time frame in which tickets are available, Apple has an interesting session you might want to check out on June 14.

Headlining his own session next Friday at noon will be none other than Bill Nye the Science Guy. Nye, well-known for his PBS Television show from the 90's, will be discussing what type of design changes Apple might implement in iOS 8.

In all seriousness, Nye will be talking about, what else, science!

The Bill Nye the Science Guy(R) show is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. The Science Guy himself will describe the remarkable chain of events that led to his understanding of the process of science, the need to engage young people, and the power and joy of knowing our place among the stars, our place in space. We've had 20 years of the Science Guy; today, there's an app for that...

This, of course, isn't the first time Apple has tapped a well-known figure in pop culture to...

The opening statements by the Department of Justice and Apple at the start of the trial between the two over e-book pricing have been given, with the DOJ claiming that Apple facilitated agreements with the big four publishers (five at the time; Hatchette and Penguin later merged) to present a unified front that demanded the "agency model" of pricing (where publishers set the e-book prices) in order to break Amazon of its predatory pricing habit of pricing e-books below its own cost -- which was having a deleterious effect on both e-book competitors and physical book sales.... ...

Ahead of a possible "iRadio" debut at WWDC, Apple is now reported to be shifting its advertising strategy to take advantage of businesses looking to reach consumers through the company's Internet radio service.  ...

April showers apparently brought May iPad Bluetooth keyboards, as I reviewed a ton of them during the month. The month of June is starting off with a duo of iPad mini keyboards from ZAGG, the ZAGGkeys Cover and ZAGGkeys Folio (both priced at US$99.99). While these two keyboards aren't available for purchase yet, this review may keep you from buying a competing iPad mini keyboard in the meantime.

Design

Let's talk about the difference between the Cover and the Folio first. The Cover is exactly what the name implies -- a keyboard that covers the screen of the iPad mini when not in use. The Folio, on the other hand, provides a keyboard and a back cover to shelter your mini.

The ZAGGkey Cover is really a marvel of engineering. I was stunned with how thin it is -- 6.3 mm, or just less than a quarter inch thick. It's also lightweight at just .68 lb (308 grams), identical to the weight of the mini alone.

The Cover is made...

Western Digital, today announced it is shipping the its thinnest 1TB hard drive with its new 2.5-inch WD Blue 7 mm hard drive. The drive, aimed at thin and light systems and slimmer notebooks, as well as compatibility with the industry-standard 9.5 mm drive slots of mainstream notebooks, is shipping in capacities from 320 GB to 1TB in the new 7mm height....  ...

Facebook may be one of the world's most popular social sharing services, but that doesn't mean that it's easy to figure out how to upload text and images, especially when you're in the web app on your Mac browser. Tapmates is on the verge of releasing a new OS X app, Moment (US$7.99, $3.99 introductory pricing), which should arrive on the Mac App Store later this week and make posting to Facebook quick and simple.

I've had a chance to try a pre-release version of Moment and my only wish is that it was available on iOS as well. Once installed, the app hides in your menu bar until you need it. You'll receive both a visual and audible notification when someone you follow on Facebook posts, and with a click you can see what has been posted at a glance. Want to see the full Facebook post? Just click on the shortcut and you're there.

But the real power of Moment is in how simple it makes posting to Facebook. Let's say that I'...

Katie Marsal:

The U.S. Department of Justice’s opening statements in its antitrust lawsuit against Apple have been published online, laying the groundwork for what the government hopes will prove illegal collusion between Apple and book publishers that led to higher prices.

I think the DOJ is going to have a tough time proving this. Tim Cook recently said at the D Conference that Apple wouldn’t admit to something they didn’t do. Cook is going to fight this and good for them.

∞ Read this on The Loop

Dave Caolo's daughter has been working hard on a school report regarding the Everglades National Park. So he downloaded her a nice-looking iPad app on the subject. Swiping around it looked great. And then he tapped on a video.

This is what happened.

In the TUAW back channel, we scratched our heads, trying to brainstorm any reason for an app to directly link to a YouTube video that didn't support mobile. The best we could come up with was this: we figure that the developer never tested the video on an actual iOS device.

But then we tested this theory by trying out the video URL on the iPhone simulator. It didn't work there either. So probably the developer never tested the video at all.

That said, although the simulator looks like an iPhone, it never provides a perfect representation of the physical and...

The U.S. Department of Justice has released its opening statements against Apple in the e-book pricing conspiracy case, which began in court today. Apple participated in a conspiracy with publishers to raise e-book prices, the DOJ claims. Over 80 slides are included, such as Apple’s emails to publishers, in which…

Apple power reseller B&H Photo is celebrating the release of its first iPhone and iPad apps by offering AppleInsider readers exclusive pricing on a half dozen MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models.  ...

It comes as little surprise that OS X supports many flavors of user interaction, nor that certain users gravitate towards certain input styles.

For example, there are trackpad wizards who beckon with careful gestures and there are mouse users who prefer to point with their cursor. And then there are keyboard fiends, those like myself, who live and die by our home position.

If you're a keyboard-based user like me, every physical movement that draws your hands away from the keyboard is a loss in efficiency, a break in concentration. We are the arrow movers, the shortcut makers, the Spotlight addicts. And it is us that the Shortcat app targets.

Currently in public beta, the app offers a new take on keyboard-based interaction. Instead of launching Spotlight (Command-Space), you launch Shortcat (Command-Shift-Space). Enter a few letters and Shortcat searches the frontmost app for matching text.

This solution is brilliant...

Apple is now offering the option to have an iPhone 5 display replaced at an Apple Store for $149, says MacRumors. The service costs the same with or without AppleCare+. It may be most important for people without the plan, though, who otherwise have to pay $229 to have a non-defective iPhone replaced. With AppleCare+ active, a replacement is $49....  ...

If Apple were to offer a new unlocked iPhone priced at $399 without a service contract subsidy, the company would be able to grow its install base without deteriorating its gross margins, one analyst has projected.  ...

Vudu's previously PC-only movie conversion program has exited closed beta, and is now available on OS X. The conversion of a first disc, either Blu-Ray or standard DVD is free, with a $2 per title fee assessed on future disks. SD DVDs may be "upgraded" to HDX for a one-time fee of $5. Users who convert more than 10 movies receive a 50 percent discount through August 31. Titles "converted" are available on the UltraViolet streaming service on various set top boxes, smart TVs, and mobile devices....  ...

Skeuomorphism appears to be on the way out in the newest version of Apple's iOS platform, as a new screenshot claims to show iOS 7 with aspects of the much anticipated "flat" design aesthetic brought in by Sir Jony Ive.  ...